The Making of River Bend Lady

This is how our neighborhood must have looked before the tree cutting began..this is the island across from our neighborhood..unbuildable because it floods...lovely trees everywhere

This is a shot of our neighborhood denuded of its trees...

well finally i can blog her and show her off.....shes part of an invitational exhibit at the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook Oregon curated by Larkin Van Horn. The show is called "Its Good to be Green" and the only requirements where that we could NOT send a frog quilt in and it had to be 18x45" long...

I stewed over this one a long time mostly because of the size of the quilt. I wanted to do something about the fabulous trees in our neighborhood...they are soo awesome and people buy lots here just to live among them and then they CHOP them down when they are in thier way...which just kills me...NO one is allowed to prune ours let alone chop them down...all 58 in the front yard and the sycamores along the river...WHY would you buy a heavily wooded lot covered with old growth trees to chop them down so you can have a lawn? I just dont understand...

ANYWAY this is my interpretation of one of the gorgeous sycamores that line the river bank here....a lovely red headed lady with green velvet skirts....and beads and vines curling around her hair and her waist and nestled in her scarf....she is of course bare footed! and tossing her skirts in the wind...

i dyed the silk velvet the cheese cloth and the trees across the river...and the water...and her hair...i guess it would be easier to say that the only thing i didnt dye was the sky and the fore ground...her face is drawn with gel pens, pigma pens, prismacolor pencils...my usual stuff...the hair is hand dyed bias cut silk ruched and couched down ..same thing with the skirt...

Beadilicious

Inspired by Linda Minton...thats a new word for these jewels:>  here are a few more...with the new heat gun...quit while i was ahead...Diana Feit suggested that if this one died i should go get a GUY one from the hardware store...good idea..thanks Diana!!

Most of these were made by rolling up straight strips of paper and then adding some bulky yarn to them...to make them look like lampwork ...well kind of sorta...the only thing i dont like about them is the ends...they are not stacked evenly so the ends look odd and would need to be covered with something else like another bead.

I glued these with tacky glue which for the most part seemed to work..except one that slid inside and i had to push the insides back in...

What else...OH the one on the bottom is made with one layer of diamond glaze glue...pretty but not nearly as cool...guess i could try adding some more tomorrow...and i dont know how the pearl ex would work with that...

Darn i forgot to try angelina fibers AGAIN....Nite to all...

So I made 14 more beads

BEFORE

AFTER

last nite when i got home and managed to burn up ANOTHER heat gun...I think i am backwashing the heat into the gun holding it in a downward position for two hours...well not a solid two hours but using it that way for two hours off and on...it was bed time anyway when it died...so back to michaels again...and if this one dies...I think i will take the hint and quit making beads...or take up lampwork beads:> or make that book i have been meaning to make

I got another set of pearlex #1 with my michaels coupon...lovely interference colors which give a beautiful glow of blue or purple or gold...just a bare hint...I also got some UTEE in interference blue which is fun...beware its NOT clear but gives a beautiful blue glow to the bead...some of the lightest beads are dipped in it...yummy stuff...

Paper beads...bet you cant make just one:>

One heat gun later(It died after two uses...guess its off to Michaels again...sigh!) and just when i had figured out how to do them fairly quickly...

there are now 27 beads done...these are mine....very like lampwork beads when you see them up close....they are made following the directions in Cloth Paper Scissors July August Issue...VERY fun to make but very labor intensive...these are made with UTEE (Ultra thick embossing enamel found in the stamp department of your local craft show ...you also need Boss Gloss to make the first layer stick) dipped in pearl ex with some glitter and microbeads added.

I tried seed beads but they seemed too large ....sort of like rocks...i never got around to the angelina i was having so much fun with the thread wrapping and pearlex and glittery stuff...who needed more...

They look like they could be ancient artifacts-glass beads- from an archeological dig...the pictures of course do not do them justice...if i have time this week...i will scan them on some black paper...NOW what to do with them...any ideas?! Before...drying...i cut slivers of paper and glued them on with more Liquitex mat medium...think fingers coated in it...i failed to read the directions that said you could cut straight strips...oh well...next time... i still have more paper:>

Wrapped with thread and ready to go in the UTE

My favorite bead..not the best picture...

will try to scan them this week...but the first of the month is ALWAYS a very busy week for me...quilt guild, book club AND PTA....add in daily trips to the gym...well you get the picture....